22 . juke - the noisier magazine

odd future got their very first uk press in the last issue of juke, back when they were just rude dogs and dweebs on the other end of a gmail, giving their music away for free and skating till their cankles bled. too bad they couldn’t exist in that sweet vert ramp loogie-bubble forever, because we’d probably have a less grizzled wu-tang on our hands.

No, because we subscribe to a conspiracy theory

that the world can’t deal with more than one creepy

African American teenager at a time, everything

and everyone closed in on Tyler the Creator - aka

the OFWGKTA member most likely to have sat

through many, many piano lessons. Hype levels

surrounding GOBLIN, Tyler’s first album brought

out the serious jibbering retard in people from

Williamsburg to Kreuzberg. No one - not even

sluts, or part-time bloggers - could get plus-ones

for shows. The anointed few who did get within

bottle-throwing distance described the live Odd

Future experience as a semi-religious experience,

up there with Hendrix pyro-ing his guitar.

Around the time GOBLIN dropped, we got word

through carrier shmohawk that the Tyler backlash

had in fact started exactly two minutes before

he was born! We could ignore the irate lesbians

(as usual) and the clumsy panning by journalists

who’d been licking his buttsack like some sort of

Willy Wonka feature wall since January. But we

couldn’t sidestep the fact that, despite the flashes

of snarling lyrical prowess, GOBLIN made us glad

we didn’t have a record contract when we were

angsty teenaged dweebs.

Now, thanks to our stupid attention spans and

fancy expectations, Tyler is destined to become a

coke-bloated spectre with a Supreme facial tattoo

and a Saturday night ‘ironic slumming it’ date

with Chloe Sevigny, while his backing band rot in

obscurity/ stake out Beyonce’s studio for guest

spots/ appear one-by-one on Celebrity Rehab with

Dr. Drew.

But hey, what do we know? We’ve haven’t spent

the last five months eating Cinnastix and getting

deep with Odd Future (and we can’t pretend we

wouldn’t have really liked that). So take it away,

guy who was there for Tyler’s first stagedive, in

their hotel room the night THAT Jimmy Fallon aired

and at the mafia pizza dinner where their record

deal was brokered. No, it’s not Mos Def. Here’s

Brook Bobbins’ access-all-areas take on the dank

little crew that is hopefully just getting started.

My name is Brook Bobbins: I’m a photographer

from The Bronx, New York Fucking City. This is

a little story about Odd Future, OFWGKTA, Wolf

Gang, Golf Wang. I first met Tyler, Syd, Hodgy,

Left Brain, Mike G, Frank Ocean and Matt Martians

back when they were playing their first NYC show,

arguably the most important show they’d had.

I got there a little before doors opened, it was

cold as fuck. I was standing by this side entrance

when this long haired, bearded dude came out

and started talking to this guy from The New York

Times. So I overheard them talking about heading

in for press shots and figured I’d holler at him. This

guy turned out to be Heathcliff Berru, a totally chill

bro, who walked me in.

The wolves aren’t exactly huge fans of cameras

at shows. Especially a ton of cameras in a pit in

front of the stage. The whole crew wants the show

to essentially be an extension of the stage and to

be able to connect with everyone, Get buck and

fuckin’ punch and kick and go crazy. They don’t

wanna pose for pictures while they’re on stage.

They wanna dive off the stage, speakers, roof or

any other elevated platform and sock you in the

mouth.

So this was about to be Odd Future’s first show.

I was pretty fucking excited. Out of the speakers

you could hear some sounds emanating and

then you could hear Tyler. Almost immediately,

back to the futureby brook bobbins

juke - the noisier magazine . 23

Tyler exploded onto the stage and I started to snap

away. This venue was pretty small - it held maybe 200

people. The energy inside was incredible. As it started

getting more and more rowdy, I could really feel that I

was taking part in the beginning of something special.

Halfway through the set, Tyler came over and was

like, “Imma fuckin stagedive!” So I got ready with my

camera - and sure enough he fucking jumped. Far. He

was practically touching the ceiling on his ride back. I

hit the bar and I see Mos Def chillin’ and I’m like, ‘Holy

shit’. He tells me how much of a fan he is and wants

to meet, so I hollered at Heathcliff. Backstage they met

and I snapped a few pics that got some serious rounds

on the internet. The hype was only building at the time

of this show, so the crowd wasn’t as rowdy, although

Tyler’s energy, charisma, personality and actions have

always been the same. He’s the same kid on and off

stage, on and off camera. They are all just kids having a

fun fucking time and scaring people a bit.

The next run-in I had with the Golf Wang was in NYC

at Santos Party House. The crew got into town early

so I met them over at the venue about an hour before

showtime. I’ve never seen a crowd this large outside

Santos. The crowd swelled so much that the security

pushed everyone across the street to the opposite side

to wait. Hundreds showed up with tickets; hundreds

showed up hoping to be one of the lucky few to grab a

ticket at the door. This was the first time I got to meet

Domo Genesis: this dude is swagged the fuck out. I

also met the crew’s management, Christian Clancy and

Dave Airaudi. These two individuals are visionaries.

They know exactly how to handle the crew: let them

do whatever the fuck they want and encourage them to

keep true to themselves and push their own limits as far

as they please. A lot of people would try and capitalize,

rent a big venue, sell as many tickets as possible and

cake, but not this crew. The world we live in is full of

hype, the internet trumps all forms of communication

and careers bloom and burn out within a single-day

cycle. These guys are smart.

I headed back to the green room to partake in the

festivities. We chilled, we smoked, we danced and

bounced off the walls. Syd was on stage dropping

tracks, most notably Waka joints that had Tyler

spazzing the fuck out backstage. At one point there

were label reps, magazine editors, bloggers, hangers-

on (and, of course, Mos Def) when Tyler shouted

“Everybody get the fuck out. We need wolf gang time!”

Syd came in and handed Tyler and Hodgy mics. Tyler

simply breathed into the mic, “WOLF” and you could

hear the chants begin to echo back past the stage into

the room we were chillin’ in. “Wolf Gang, Wolf Gang,

Wolf Gang, WOLF GANG!” I went and grabbed a corner

of the stage and Tyler erupted from behind the curtain:

“And fuck rollin’ papers, I’m a rebel, bitch, I’m ashin’

blunts!” The show went off without a hitch (well almost,

Tyler did lose one of his beloved 1/1 OFWGKTA Vans).

The place was packed and people were freaking the

fuck out. Tyler and Hodgy’s stagedives were infinitely

better, clearing 10 or 15 feet from the stage. When

the show wrapped up, we headed back to the hotel.

Once up in the room we drank some Henny, smoke

some joints and kicked it. Tyler came through to the

room, so we ordered Domino’s, more specifically

Cinnastix! (arguably the best food on the planet). Once

we finished dinner, we hammered out the details for

tomorrow’s adventure… Jimmy fucking Fallon.

The next morning, Tyler was wearing someone else’s

shoe - looked to be about a size 9 and fit him like a

slipper that was waaaaay too small. We piled in the

car and headed up to 30 Rock. We checked in, got

our badges and headed to the changing room. Me

and Tyler were walking some hallways, looking for the

makeup room where the infamous Japanese Ring girl

was getting ready for her performance with them. Back

in the changing room Clancy was playing the banjo,

Dave was eating chips and Hodgy was reviewing his TV

lyrics. There was a piano in the room so I was blessed

to hear a rendition of Yonkers, stripped down.

The rehearsal was amazing, you could tell that this

was gonna be a TV appearance that would go down in

history. Afterwards, with a quick stop in at Supreme’s

head office to replace Tyler’s trainers and load up on

swag, we walked around the corner to Ben’s Pizza, at

the order of Tyler: “I need some fuckin’ Ben’s Pizza

goddammit!” In the pizza shop, me and Tyler chatted

and he said something to me that has never rang truer,

“You can be anything you want to be…I am a fucking

table” It all made sense to me now! With that we

hopped in some cabs and headed up to 30 Rock for

the taping.

24 . juke - the noisier magazine juke - the noisier magazine . 25

nights - the art of partying juke . vol.03 . summer 2011

Outside the building, we were met by Left Brain, Domo

and Syd and headed back upstairs. When we got

upstairs after about 5 minutes sure enough through

the door rolls… Mos Def! Rocking his visitor badge

and all. He proclaims, “I swear, I’m not stalking y’all!”

Then Jimmy came through and Tyler and him had

some sort of weird whispering battle. I heard mention

of 4-wheelers, bitches and lost shoes. As everyone

cleared out, we could feel the anxiety building in the

room. This was gonna be fucking legendary. I really

don’t have to go into detail because everyone saw it.

Security had to come and calm Domo down, cause

he was jumping up and down so fucking hard he was

blocking and shaking the cameras that were filming.

After the performance, we regrouped in the dressing

room and chopped it up with ?uestlove. We then piled

into some trucks and XL Records took us all out for

pizza on some mafia shit. Through the kitchen, up

some back flight of steps and into a private room. We

ate some fancy ass pizza. Left sprayed Italian soda on

his and took pictures of it.

After dinner me, Hodgy and Left Brain went out to skate

a bit. We messed with some chicks on the street just

fucking around and just cut loose for a while. We went

in and got ready to watch the performance on TV. It

was amazing being in the room with them watching

history unfold on national television. It was really a

great moment - we were yelling and jumping around.

Some sort of vase was broken (and hidden).

Next stop: SXSW, Texas - and Odd Future were the

main attraction. After Lil B’s set, Diddy took the

stage to talk about the future of hip-hop. Within the

first sentence, the entire Wolf Gang bum-rushed the

stage, grabbed a mic and started wylin the fuck out.

Diddy said “These young cats right here, this is the

fuckin’ future of music right here”. Tyler launched into

Sandwitches at which point he was nailed in the face

with a full water bottle. Rather than be a pussy like

most artists, he instead climbed over the photographers

in the pit and shat him out. Like a fucking champion he

blasted right back into the track and spit that shit with

intensity.

The whole crew are stars. Tyler is extremely

charismatic, as well as brilliant at building songs and

visuals from the ground up, but Hodgy is fucking

incredible at putting a verse together and Left is an

absolute beast on the beats. The Mellowhype projects

are outstanding. Mike G’s album Ali was incredible.

That shit has never left rotation, I can’t wait for Gold.

Domo is one of my favorite rappers out - Rolling Papers

is an incredible piece of music. Syd is amazing behind

the boards and she knows exactly what she’s doing

on stage: before the show and during. Super 3 aka Hal

Williams and Mat Martians is a whole nother level and

vibe to the OF camp. Jet Age Of Tomorrow is a smooth,

jazzy, triply spaced-out collection of tracks that is just

mesmerizing. And Earl is…..well, Earl. He is the best

lyricist I’ve heard in a long time. I can’t wait until the

day Earl comes back to the camp. Sure, I wanna hear

some new cuts, but more importantly, I wanna see

my friends get their family back. People love Earl as a

persona and a rapper; these guys miss their best friend.

From dropping tracks and talking shit on a message

board to touring the world and living your dream.

This is one hell of a story.

TYLER on JUKE “for the record, you guys are doing some good shit! what i love most about it all is it just seems like you are a bunch of bad kids having some fun which is how it should be! stay up! OFWGKTA!” [juke.vol.02]

26 . juke - the noisier magazine juke - the noisier magazine . 27

nights - the art of partying juke . vol.03 . summer 2011

nights - the art of partying juke . vol.03 . summer 2011